Direct imaging of the alkali metal site in K-doped fullerene peapods

The structure of K-doped fullerene peapods has been investigated by means of high-resolution transmission electron microscopy and electron energy-loss spectroscopy (EELS). It is proven that the potassium atoms can be doped at the intermolecular sites within C60 peapods. The EELS spectrum of potassium (K) L edge clearly exhibits the feature of K+ in the doped peapod and consequently suggests n-type doping. These results encourage the realization of a one-dimensional superconducting wire based on the nanotube peapods.